CHAPTER 11
DANGER
Han returned shortly after the doctor had left. Leia and Luke were sitting side by side on the couch. Both looked up as Han walked into the room.
"I can tell you're upset, Luke, but I really have to talk to you."
In the last hour, Luke's features had taken on an extremely haggard expression. He looked steadily at Han.
"I don't want to talk about anything, Han."
"Too bad, Buddy. The braid on your shoulder makes this one all yours – and it can't wait. Lando and I have discovered two assassin droids on the base."
Luke and Leia both stared at Han in disbelief.
"They're illegal," Leia stated finally.
"One of the reasons we impounded them," Han told her. "Unfortunately, they were hidden in a seldom used hanger – not where they could be tied to a specific person. And ..."
"And what?" Luke asked wearily.
"And there were parts and controls for at least six other assassin droids. We have no idea how many or where they might be. I can guess who they might be intended for."
Luke shook his head. "So? What is it you want from me?"
"A little assistance in saving your base and your butt! What's the matter with you?"
"Amethyst won't see him," Leia told Han. "She thinks Luke has betrayed her."
Han shrugged. "So explain it to her. I'm always having to talk my way out of female problems – use to have to, I mean," he corrected hastily as he saw Leia's eyes flash a warning.
Luke just stared at him a moment and then lowered his eyes to gaze at the floor between his feet.
"Look, Luke," Leia stared, "we have to deal with this threat to base security. If we don't get this under control, nothing else will matter."
"She's awake," Luke interrupted and walked toward the sleeping area. He opened the door and went to sit on the side of the bed.
Immediately, there were harsh whimpering sounds from Amethyst. Luke reached out for her but she fought against his touch, swinging her arms wildly, moving further and further away from him until, in her drug induced state, she fell from the bed.
Luke ran around the bed to where she had fallen. The closer he tried to get to her, the faster she tried to get away from him.
Finally, he was only a few feet from her. She was backed into a corner made by the bedside stand and the wall. She looked frantically around for a means of escape.
"Luke, for god's sake, back away," Leia cried from the doorway. "Look at her – she's trying to figure out how to get to the balcony. As drugged as she is, she may try to jump. Get away from her!"
She motioned for Han to physically remove Luke. The older man walked up behind Luke and put his arms around Luke's chest holding his arms at his side.
"Come on, Luke. You don't want to do this," he said soothingly.
With only a slight struggle, Luke allowed himself to be pulled back away from Amethyst. Leia came to stand in front of Luke, facing Amethyst. Leia held up a hand in a reconciliatory gesture.
"No one wants to hurt you," she asserted. "Luke just wants to talk to you. Will you please let him talk to you? I promise he won't try to touch you."
Again the whimpering sound was torn from Amethyst's damaged throat as she shook her head violently.
"Okay," Leia's voice was soft and soothing, using the Force to the best of her ability to send calming thoughts to Amethyst. Leia took a step back as Han took Luke from the room. "No one will approach you. If you want something – if any of us can do anything for you – let me know. I swear to you, no one means you any harm."
Amethyst let out a silent scream. She could still feel Luke's presence in her mind. Try as she would, she could not force him out. No matter what she did, no matter how she fought his presence, he was there – a dark countenance.
She knew he wanted to talk to her. The morning after she had learned the truth about his family, Ralph had come to help her move from Luke's suite into a small room in another area of the palace. Luke had tried to talk to her before she left but she had kept Ralph between herself and Luke. She had hurried from the suite thinking that she would have some tranquility once Ralph helped her get away.
But for three days, she had not had a moment's peace. Luke had relentlessly invaded her mind during her waking hours and her dreams during her sleeping moments. With a brutality that reminded her more than ever of his father, he had raped her consciousness. She now sat in the middle of the floor of her room, crying, hugging herself, rocking back and forth, her entire posture one of total anguish.
That was how Ralph found her when he came into the room.
"Amethyst!" he exclaimed in sympathy. He knelt in front of her and took hold of her hands. "Come on, get up," he said as he helped her to her feet and led her to her bed. "Listen to me," he told her.
She turned tear swollen eyes toward him.
"Luke said that he will not stop until ..."
She threw her head back in agony and then buried her face in her hands. Ralph pulled her hands away so she would look at him.
"Listen," he insisted. "He said he'll stop, if you'll talk to him."
She shook her head violently.
"Amethyst, you two are going to kill each other. This has to stop. I don't know which of you is in worse shape. But I do know which of you is the stronger. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to see him."
Again she shook her head.
"Yes," he told her flatly. "Or I cannot be responsible for what happens to you. See him. He loves you. Once you've talked to him, if you still don't want to have anything to do with him, I think he'll let you go."
She hesitated, trying to cling to the slim hope Ralph had just offered her for relief.
Ralph put a comforting arm around her. "Amethyst, why don't you just see him. Think of how you felt about him a week ago. Has learning his last name really changed Luke from the man you thought he was?"
Amethyst sat on the sofa in the office where Ralph had taken her for her interview with Luke. She sat looking down at her hands which she held folded in her lap. She did not look up as Luke entered. She could hear him move across the room to stand in front of her. She felt her own body go rigid as he came close, but he made no move to touch her.
All she felt from him was wave after wave of love and concern. After the day and night bombardment of his forced presence, the emotions he now directed at her were like a soothing balm to her damaged spirit.
He stood still, not moving, not speaking. After a long time, she slowly raised her eyes to look at him. He was wearing his black uniform. She gasped at first as she also saw a floor length black cape and a black helmet with face plate.
"No, Amethyst," he said softly.
The mask of his father that she had imagined faded slowly. She saw Luke as he actually looked as he stood before her. His eyes had dark circles under them and were filled with pain and deep sorrow.
When he felt sure she was seeing him as he really was, he went down on one knee in front of her. Slowly, gently, he reached out to take hold of one of her hands. Unwillingly, the hand trembling violently, she allowed him to do so. He was silent for a long time, trying to channel his love and peace to her.
"I thought you knew," he said finally. "You seemed to know so much about me ... you even tried to speak my name in the prison. I didn't try to keep it a secret from you ... it just never occurred to me that you didn't know about ... Vader."
Involuntarily, a chill went through her entire body causing her to shiver violently. He moved as if to comfort her, but she pulled back. He continued to hold her one hand but his other hand made a placating gesture. He shifted his weight back to his knee. When she was sure he was not going to come closer, she sat up straight and the hand that he held again became limp.
"Amethyst, you know that we're connected. You know that we belong together."
She shook her head.
"Yes," he insisted gently. "Leia told me what you use to tell her when you were children. I know what the pendant means."
With his free hand, he removed the pendant from his pocket. He had found it on the floor of the sleeping area when Ralph had taken Amethyst away from the suite. She stared dully at the stone and then raised her eyes to look into his.
"You know how I feel about you. You and I are destined to be together. Without each other, neither of us will ever be complete. You know that – I know that, but ..." He took a deep breath. "But if the only thing that will make you happy is to leave me ... I ... I will let you go."
She scrutinized his face closely. She could feel the pain this statement caused him and she empathized.
In her eyes, Luke could see the emotions that were struggling inside of her. He simply watched her and waited as she shifted through one thought after another. At last, she closed her eyes and leaned back in obvious pain. Now he moved to sit beside her. When she did not respond, he hesitantly put his arm around her. She made no move to resist him, instead she opened her eyes and looked into his face as he drew her close. The tortured look that haunted her eyes tore at his heart.
"Amethyst, I love you so much. I would never harm you. I'd use all of my powers to keep you safe. But I cannot undo what my father did. I will not attempt to justify his life. All I can tell you is that Leia and I have had to come to terms with both sides of our father's life – we have had to continue to build our lives and move on."
She slowly shook her head and he could tell that there was something that she desperately wanted him to know. He lovingly stroked her hair.
"I can only guess at what he may have done to you – destroyed your world, killed someone you loved, imprisoned you – and for all I know, he may have done it because he knew who you were and that you were destined to be my wife."
He sighed sadly, "He tried everything he could to turn me to the Dark Side. I wouldn't be at all surprised if I were to learn that he had you imprisoned with the idea of using you against me some day."
He took hold of her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Please, try to get past this. Please, promise me that you won't leave me," he begged her.
He could see her distress and could feel the conflict of emotions that raged within her. He smiled tenderly.
"I long for you to come back to me – to my bed. My father has nothing to do with us. Don't let him cause any more damage than he has already achieved. Don't let him destroy our lives the way he destroyed his and my mother's." He paused and then added with a shaking voice, "Don't let him win!"
Tears welled in her eyes and began to roll down her cheeks. Slowly, deliberately, he wiped her cheeks with his forefinger.
"What can I do to make you know that I'm right?"
She shook her head slightly, uncertain about what to believe. Her heart plainly told her that Luke was right, but her mind rebelled at the idea of being with Vader's son. She pressed the heels of her hands tightly against the temples of her head.
"Don't, darling," Luke said soothingly. "Just come here," he coaxed and he drew her gently but decidedly into his arms.
Tenderly he moved her hands and placed his fingertips against her temples. He caressed her temples as she leaned against his chest. He could feel her relax gradually as the pain lessened.
He knew that she was still confused by what she had learned about him. He was glad because it meant she still had feelings for him or there would have been no conflict within her. He sent his love and concern to her, through the Force, as he continued to hold her.
Suddenly Luke shoved Amethyst away from him, onto the floor. Totally stunned by his behavior, she turned her head enough to glance up at him. He was straddling her body and he was thrashing furiously with his lightsaber at something that moved through the room.
"Get out of here!" he ordered. "Stand up behind me – stay close against my back. I'll back toward the door. Find Han or Lando."
She continued to lay pressed against the floor.
"Move!" he roared.
Amethyst stumbled through the halls desperately looking for a face that was familiar. She had never been out in the hallways of the palace by herself. She had no idea how large the palace was or how many buildings were in the complex or where she could even begin to look for Han or Leia or the Lando person Luke had mentioned.
The need to locate Han became unnecessary a moment later as an explosion ripped from the room where she had just been with Luke. The force of the blast knocked her off of her feet. She was still slightly dazed, down on her hands and knees, when base personnel began to arrive.
One of the military aides helped Amethyst to her feet. As she rose, she saw Han in the crowd. He had his back toward her, giving orders to the personnel that had hurried to the blast site. She pushed her way through the crowd and pounded frantically on his back. Han swirled and stared at her.
"Amethyst!"
He gripped her shoulders.
"What are you doing here?"
She took hold of his hand and began to pull him toward the devastated room.
"I thought you were with Luke," he told her. "Go on back to him. I'll take care of things here."
She shook her head and pointed desperately at the damaged doorway.
"Are you trying to tell me Luke was in there when that thing went off?" he questioned.
Before she could nod an affirmative, Leia came running down the hallway calling her brother's name. Han stopped Leia and refused to allow her to approach the room.
"If Luke's in there, I'll get him out. Take Amethyst somewhere safe. Go take care of the children," he ordered firmly.
Leia tore her horrified gaze away from the smoke coming out into the hallway. She looked at Han and nodded.
"The children – yes," she uttered but she did not seem to comprehend what she was saying.
He gave her shoulders a single shake. "Leia, there are at least five more of these things out there! Go take care of our children."
She seemed to snap out of her daze. "The children ... of course. I'll take care of Amethyst and the kids." She paused and then added, "Please! Help Luke."
Amethyst sat in the corner of the living area of Leia's suite. Leia had brought the three children, their nanny Winter, and Chewbacca into the suite. Amethyst had found a large over-stuffed chair in the corner of the room away from the main suite door and the balcony doors. She sat with her feet pulled up underneath her, hugging herself, staring in fascinated horror at the family with whom she shared the room.
The children played quietly. Periodically, one or another of them would glance over at Amethyst but then they would quickly look away as her gaze met theirs.
It had been almost an hour when Jana and Jason quit playing and walked over to their mother who had been pacing the room.
"We have to go now," Jason told Leia.
"Go where, sweetheart?" she asked him.
"To Uncle Luke," Jana replied.
"I don't understand," Leia told them.
The twins looked at each other in surprise then back at their mother.
"Can't you hear him calling all of us?" Jason asked.
Leia shook her head.
"Uncle Luke is dying," Anakin said looking up from his play. "He wants to say goodbye."
Amethyst jumped to her feet.
Leia hesitated while Chewy grumbled a low warning growl. She made her decision. Gathering her children, Leia began to herd them towards the door.
"Chewy, you stay here with Amethyst. I'm going to the Medi-Area."
Now Chewy produced a full fledge roar of disagreement.
All three of the children hung back from the door.
"What is it?" Leia asked thinking they felt a danger her preoccupation with Luke did not allow her to register.
"He wants to tell us goodbye," Jason started.
"But he wants her," Jana added pointing at Amethyst "to forgive him."
TBC
